Some Say It Was a Bakery. Now It’s a Family’s Loftlike Home Brimming With Vintage Decor
Eric Rosenthal and Jeffrey Menzer found each other after moving to D.C. in the mid-eighties. It was the early years of the AIDS crisis, and the two bonded over a shared zeal for political advocacy and health initiatives. In the decades after, Eric became a pediatrician and Jeffrey a nurse (he now runs his own public health consulting practice), and they lived in a small, crowded row house with their son in Capitol Hill.
Eric and Jeffrey turned a Capitol Hill building that had been divided into six apartments into a three-level family home.
For years, the couple searched for a bigger home in the area but struggled to find any large, modern buildings—the neighborhood is more known for its historic structures. Then, in 2017, Jeffrey and he and Eric’s son attended an open house for a three-story building thought to have once been a bakery.
A row of fake cakes from Etsy are displayed in the front window, a nod to the building’s supposed origins as a bakery.
It was constructed in 1900, was later split into six apartments, and hadn’t been renovated since the ’70s, when most of the original features were stripped. It seemed to have just the right layout, says Jeffrey, to achieve the open, industrial, and loftlike feel that he and Eric envisioned.
This living space on the second floor includes Knoll chairs and ottomans, a collection of blown glass, artwork from Linda Lowery, and an Armadillo rug. "I sit and read in the Womb chairs a lot, while our dog Penny snuggles up next to me," Jeffrey says.
After a cosign from architects Judith Capen and Robert Weinstein of Architrave P.C. Architects, the couple closed on the house and began gutting it to a nearly raw state, afterwards calling in interior designer Nicole Lanteri to imbue the place with some character.
Lots of curves and shapes occupy the living space outside Eric’s office, complete with an Eileen Gray Bibendum chair, a Mira Nakashima table, Noguchi floor lamp, Molo stool, and Verner Panton rug. A yellow Fairmat panel and recycled polycarbonate make up the back wall.
Rather than carve up the building’s six units into small, contained spaces, Eric and Jeffrey wanted to open the layout as much as they could. Now the interiors feel cavernous, lit up by rich hues and textures.
The staircase wraps around a "tower," the red structure, to connect the three floors.
In the midst of it all, the architects threaded an angled, cantilevered staircase through the three floors that serves as the connective tissue between them. Around the staircase, a tower of sorts has been formed, composed of nooks and crannies such as Eric’s office and a tucked-away daybed that Jeffrey compares to a sleeping berth on a train.
This cozy daybed on the top floor, perfect for guests to rest or read a book, is part of the "tower" that wraps around the staircase. "We wanted to have beautiful things in the house that people could discover, and this daybed was one of them," Eric says.
The couple are pretty simpatico with their tastes, though Eric admits that Jeffrey is more practical. Before ordering furniture, he was the one measuring the historic doors, which are narrower than usual, to make sure pieces could fit.
Eric and Jeffrey use their new dining area to host friends at monthly Shabbat dinners. The Mira Nakashima dining table is paired with Risom dining chairs and an Angela Adams rug. Overhead hangs a Brian Richer for Castor LED light and an Arturo Alvarez Tina feather pendant.
Jeffrey tracked down this Miss Matatabi Japanese fabric that was made into curtains in the primary bedroom. "It hides all sorts of imperfections in the wall, and adds a lot of visual interest," he says.
Both homeowners are also vintage lovers: Eric is an auction hound who collects Mira and George Nakashima pieces. Some of what’s in the home came from Eric’s parents, who owned several Nakashima pieces, too. As for Jeffrey, he turns his eye toward specific kinds of faux rabbit fur or curtains made from Japanese fabrics.
Now, a multicolored Endless sofa and My Beautiful Backside sofa by Bensen fill out the first floor living room, accompanied by Toof tables by Marrimor Objects. The paper lights are by Foscarini.
The couple’s son requested a blue and white palette for his bathroom, which was achieved with blue Clé tiles, a bathtub from Perlato, and a Duravit toilet.
Together with Nicole, the three embraced a pigment-happy palette of greens, reds, blues, and yellows, along with a fondness for shapes—from the bulbous poufs that dot the den on the second floor to the constellation of pendant lamps that illuminate the first floor living area dominated by a multicolored Endless Sofa by Bensen.
A black and white Angela Adams rug anchors the entryway, which includes two chairs bought at auction and an Ikea floor lamp.
Sustainability was another priority. Nicole used recycled carbon composite Fairmat sheets in kindercore reds and yellows that cover certain walls, while Eric and Jeffrey sourced objects secondhand from Community Forklift, a local nonprofit reuse center where Jeffrey is a volunteer board member.
A collection of masks from Guatemala hangs above the pantry, which opens and closes via sliding doors.
Jeffrey describes their finished home as a functional art piece with hidden gems for people to discover. "I have a really challenging, stressful, exhausting job," adds Eric. "But it makes me happy to be able to live in the middle of all this beauty."
"We both like to cook a lot, so we really needed a kitchen that provides us that opportunity," Jeffrey says. Ikea cabinets and Reform drawers are topped with 17-foot countertops. The kitchen island was sourced from Community Forklift, a local reuse center.
Related Reading:
This Brooklyn Fashion Designer’s Cozy Loft Was Renovated on a Budget
A Knitting Mill in San Francisco Becomes an Unbelievable Loft For Two Art Collectors
Interior Design Company: Nicole Lanteri Design
Cabinetry Design: Reform
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